What If
by SimplyReBECca
Summary: Joey&Lauren. What would have happened if Lauren hadn't crashed the car that night... Short first chapter, will get longer!
1. Chapter 1

This chapter is for the lovely Laura ( lauras1993x) as it's her birthday! Happy Birthday lovely :D x

Short chapter to start, let me know what you think of the idea :)

She turned the music off. Too loud. Silence. Too quiet. "Joey" she spoke, breaking the silence. "Hmm?" he turned to look at her, she knew she was biting her lip but she was trying to focus on the road. "Where are we going?" she was worried about this plan of running away together, she just didn't want to tell him. "Does it matter?" he said with a smirk. "Anywhere's better than there" he said.

"Babe..." she mumbled. The unsaid questions in the air, are they doing the right thing? Why are they going? Will this work? What happens next? She was giving up a lot, her family, her friends, everything. For a boy she's on known a few months.

"I do want to be with you." She said confidently, briefly glancing at him and smiling when she saw his smile. "It's just..." she paused. "This is insane" she let out a nervous laugh. He nodded, this was crazy. Them being together, and deciding to do this. Crazy. "We'll go to Mum's." She was watching him out of the corner of when he spoke. "Yeah" nodding to himself. "We'll go to Mum's just for tonight. Get some sleep, make some plans and then tomorrow..." he paused and looked at her "We leave London. Me and you." He sounded so confident, and she trusted him. "Hm kay."

"Yeah?" he scanned her face, trying to make sure she was happy with this. "Yeah. Me and you." She beamed at him, before he started giving her directions.


	2. Chapter 2

Short update tonight. 2 more to follow tomorrow though :) Let me know what you think! x

Lauren felt nervous as she got out of the car, Joey grabbing their bags out of the back. "You sure she's going to be alright about this?" she said softly, him turning and noticing she hadn't yet stepped away from the car. He scoffed, "Course she is babe, she's my mum", Lauren tensed at that and Joey realised straight away that her body language had changed. It was weird for them both how connected they were, both of them knew after the first time they slept together that it wasn't just going to stop there. "Your mum would be okay about it eventually too Lauren", she lifted her head to look at him "Yeah?" she said so quietly, Joey almost didn't catch it. "Yeah. One day." He replied, not actually knowing if it was true or not but knowing how hard it must be for her. She's sacrificing a lot more than him, and he knows it. At his words, she smiled and straightened up, trying to be her usual confident self. He smirked at her and grabbed her hand, leading her to the house he spent his teenage years in and until recently, called home.

Lauren stood slightly behind him, as he let go off her hand to find his keys to let them in, he thought his mum would be in bed already. Lauren said in the car he should of phoned her first, but he just shrugged her off. She checked her phone, seeing the time – 11:16pm and seeing the unread text messages from Abi, most likely asking where she was, she decided to turn her phone off. It'd be better this way. He raised an eyebrow at his ... wait, girlfriend he guessed. He'd never really thought about it. He raised an eyebrow at his Lauren, and she just turned her phone screen towards him as a response. Turned off. No contact with Walford anymore. He didn't even know how she'd left it with her family. He'd left Alice a note, saying he'd had enough and was going away, that he'd phone soon. He made a mental note to ask her later.

"Come on babe" he said, opening the door, holding it open for her to walk in. Lauren stood awkwardly in the hallway of the house, as Joey locked the door behind him. He glanced up the stairs. "Mum's probably asleep babes. We'll crash and I'll speak to her in the morning" He said quietly, nudging her forward into the living room. Knowing his mum would cover for them tonight, possibly even a few days whilst Joey made a better plan than just driving.

He shut the living room door behind them and dumped their bags on the floor. "My room's through there" he tipped his head to the right and Lauren saw a doorway off the living room. She stayed stood where she was though, earlier everything had moved so quickly but now she felt like she was in slow motion. He realised she hadn't moved and stepped to stand in front of her, tipping her chin so he could look at her without her hiding behind her hair. "No regrets babe?" he said softly, her shaking her head.

So many unspoken things between them. He could tell looking in her eyes that she hadn't changed her mind about this, but she was scared. He was too, he had no idea what they were doing, just going on instinct. "First girl I've ever brought back here" he said with a smirk, pulling her body close to his. "yeah?" she said, soft smile lighting up her face. He nodded. "Guess you must be special ay?" he teased, her pushing up on her tip-toes to reach him for a kiss.


	3. Chapter 3

Lauren sensed Joey was awake a while before he actually moved, he was curled around her, his arm a heavy but comfortable weight across her body. The house was quiet, Lauren thought it must still be pretty early, they probably should get up and make a move but Lauren was comfortable in Joey's embrace and he didn't seem in any hurry to get up, too busy caught in his thoughts. Thinking about it, Lauren realised they'd never done this. Never actually slept together, they couldn't risk it. They moved so fast but she didn't get any of it. Being with him felt so natural though, she didn't care.

She kept her breathing even and stayed still as she felt Joey move into a sitting position, feeling his gaze on her. Happy she was still asleep, he ducked down to brush a kiss on her temple before getting up and leaving the room. Aware he was needing to speak to his mum, Lauren tried to listen out for him but eventually fell back asleep.

Awaking a little while later, Joey still gone from his bedroom, Lauren sat up in his bed and looked around his room. Other than a couple of pictures, old family shots of him and Alice, on his chest of drawers, his room was pretty plain. Nothing Lauren could feel a Joey vibe from. Climbing out of bed, Joey's top covering her torso and the tops of her legs, she grabbed her bag. Going to grab her phone, she paused. Probably not a smart idea to contact her family or friends, not right now anyway.

Opening his bedroom door, Lauren softly called his name to no response. She stood awkwardly in the door frame of his bedroom, not knowing exactly what to do. Her thoughts were broken quickly. "So you're the girl then." A woman who looked exactly like Lauren would imagine Alice would in twenty years time, obviously Joey's mum, had come to stand in the other living room door way.

Lauren just raised an eyebrow, is that what she is. Joey's mum smiled, seeing under the nerve, s a girl with fire, perfect for her son. "I'm Lynne. Joey and Alice's mum. But I'm guessing you knew that" she said, Lauren letting out a quiet laugh. "I'm the girl" she said with a smirk, Lynne grinning back at her. "But my name's Lauren.". Things went quiet again, Lauren trying to imagine this lady with her Uncle Derek and Lynne trying to work out exactly what her son had gotten himself into.

"I've only briefly seen my son, so maybe you can fill in some gaps for me?" the woman said softly, noticing how tense Lauren still seemed. Lauren just nodded. "Want to sit down darling?" Lauren just shuffled, arms wrapped around her body to sit down on the sofa, Joey's mum coming to sit next to her. Lifting her head to look at her, Lauren could actually see bits of Joey in his mum's face too, now she looked closer.

"Well you are beautiful, I'll give my son that" she broke the silence with a chuckle, Lauren half-smiling "Thank you.". Tucking up her legs underneath her, pulling down his shirt to cover herself more, Lauren wished Joey was here. They were supposed to be in this together.

As if she could tell what Lauren was thinking, Joey's mum spoke. "He'll be back soon", the tension leaving Lauren's face as Lynne spoke more. "Going to fill me in then love?". Lauren just shrugged, not knowing what to say. "What'd he tell you?" she said with a sigh. Lynne looked at Lauren, obviously thinking about something before shrugging. "Well I woke up to my son, sat on the bottom of my bed staring at me" Lauren let out a laugh, making Lynne stop before Lauren waved her hand to carry on. "Obviously I was surprised" Lynne carried on, Lauren rolling her eyes. She knew they should have phoned ahead. "But I got told not 'to freak' but there was a girl downstairs." Lynne paused, watching for Lauren's reactions. Joey had told Lauren last night that she had been the only girl he'd ever brought home, that he was normally a love 'em and leave 'em type, which didn't surprise her at all. "He said that he and this girl were together, and people didn't know but wouldn't like it." Lauren sighed, he'd skipped out the them being cousins part, great. Trust him, to leave it to her to explain that bit.

Lynne saw Lauren's reaction but carried on. "Said Derek knew" Both of the pulled a face, smiling when they saw the other's reaction to Derek's name. "And hated it. My son got defensive, told me he didn't care what Derek thought, and if being you meant leaving, so be it." Lauren smiled at that, she wished she had his confidence sometimes. "He told me to look after you whilst he got stuff done, and he'd be back." Lynne grabbed Lauren's hand, and spoke softly but her tone was serious. "So now, would you like to explain to me just exactly who you are and why you & my son are running away together?"


	4. Chapter 4

This chapter is dedicated to the lovely Brogan – Happy 18th Birthday lovely! Xx

_"So now, would you like to explain to me just exactly who you are and why you & my son are running away together?"_

Lauren took a deep breath in, wondering where exactly she should start and wishing Joey was here to deal with this. They'd only known each other four months and had barely been together a month when Derek caught them.

"My name is Lauren" she decided to start with, seeing Lynne's puzzled face and guessing she was about to say you've said that, Lauren spoke again. "Lauren Branning." She paused, with no reaction from Lynne. "My Dad is Max. His brother is Derek and Derek's son is..." His name didn't need to be said.

Lauren ducked her head, ready for the back lash, wondering what she and Joey were going to do when his mum turned her back on them. Wishing he was here with her, she wasn't sure she could deal with this by herself.

"You're cousins." Lynne said, with no obvious emotion in her voice that Lauren could pick up on, she just nodded. "Well I can see why that does make things complicated."

Lauren's head came up in shock, she didn't sound angry! She wasn't yelling or blaming Lauren, or even Joey for that matter. She wasn't crying, she sounded pretty calm actually. Lauren knew full well her family would not take her and Joey being together like this, that's why they chose to leave.

"I'm guessing there's more to it than that though?" Lynne raising an eyebrow, reminding Lauren so much of Joey. Lauren just shrugged. "Well the family is complicated, without adding us into the mix" she paused.

"Obviously you know what Derek's like..." Lynne let out a bitter laugh and nodded. "Well Walford is full of Branning's. And it's all a massive cycle of lies, fighting, affairs, and more lies." Lynne just nodded, thinking there was a lot more to it than that, but deciding it wasn't her place to pry right now, just patted Lauren's arm.

"You aren't mad?" Lauren said quietly, before speaking again "I mean you aren't freaking out." Lynne spotting the confusion and panic on the young girl's face, pulled her in for a hug. Lauren took comfort in her embrace and relaxed a little. "I mean I don't want you to hate us, I just wasn't expecting this, and Joey's not here, and yeah this is insane" Lauren babbled, making Joey's mum laugh.

"It's not exactly what I was expecting you to say either, but it could be a lot worse" Lynne said, squeezing Lauren a bit closer, trying to give the confused girl some comfort. Lauren didn't see how it could be worse, but whatever. Having someone that knew be on their side was something Lauren never expected.

Pulling away from their hug, Lynne asked bluntly "Do you love him?". Just the way she asked made Lauren duck her head to hide behind her hair, as she mumbled "Yeah."

"That's the bit that's important to me" Lynne said with a smile in her voice, Lauren looking up and upon seeing her smile, smiled too. "I know he loves you" Lauren blushed, but her smile grew. "So I'm sure you can deal with anything that gets thrown your way." Lauren just nodded, she hoped so, she really did.


	5. Chapter 5

"So I'm guessing no-one else knows about you and Joey then" Lynne said, breaking the comfort silence the two shared, both lost in their thoughts . Lauren shook her head. "Just you, and Derek obviously" Lauren's voice held her dislike for the man, and Lynne picked up on it. "how did he even find out? And wait, what about Alice?" Lynne had so many questions, questions Lauren would try her best to answer, wanting someone on their side, but not sure she would know the answers to everything.

Lauren shrugged "Um he saw us together. And as far as I know, Joey never said anything to her" Lynne patted Lauren on the arm, sensing her discomfort. "She hadn't said anything to me about it anyway. What about your family?" Lynne let out a laugh. "His family too I guess, but you know what I mean" Lauren letting out a small smile, nodded.

"No they don't know anything. I mean Abi" seeing Lynne's face, Lauren carried on "She's my sister, she might have suspicions I was seeing someone, she's pretty clever, but I don't know." Shrugging she spoke again "Don't think they cared enough to notice" She just shrugged. "Oh darling." Lynne didn't know Lauren's background, but she had a feeling the Branning family were full of drama, Joey & Lauren's relationship would just be the tip of the iceburg.

"I'm struggling to get my head around it, your head must be a mess" Lynne said, which Lauren laughed at this. "Nah, I mean this is complicated yeah but honestly Joey made my head a lot clearer actually." This made Lynne beam, she hadn't seen her boy for long enough to see a difference in him but she was sure after Lauren's comment she would be able to.

"On to a happier area then, how did you two get together anyway?" Lynne asked with a smile, still surprised that her son was in a relationship. He leaves a few months ago in a foul mood, ready to drag his sister back and possibly punch his dad if he gets the chance, and comes back with a girlfriend in tow.

Lauren grinned "It just sort of happened" Lynne smiled at that, she could see Joey saying the same thing. "It's a long story" she said smiling when she saw Lynne pull her legs up under her mimicking how she was sat, ready to hear the story.

"Cliff notes version?" Lynne asked, Lauren smirking in response. "Okay." She paused but decided to be blunt. "He was with my best friend and snogged another of them too" Lynne groaned and shook her head, why didn't that surprise her. She'd be having words with him about that, Lauren letting out a laugh. "I decided he needed punishing" Lynne laughed, interrupting Lauren.

"Handcuffed him in a park, left him there" Lynne covered her mouth with her hand to stop laughing loudly. "I went back for him though. We started arguing, he told me I was jealous and then I slapped him" Lauren stopped then, having to join Lynne with her laughter. "Then I tried to ignore him for a while." She shrugged. "Ended up drunk one night and kissed him." She pulled a face. "He pulled away, I thought he hated me" Lynne put her hand on Lauren's arm in comfort, as she carried on speaking.

"But the next day when I was sober, he kissed me". Lauren couldn't help but smile as she remembered how they'd got together. "But I stopped it. Told myself he was out-of-bounds" Shrugging at Lynne's questioning look. "Long story short, after multiple conversations and avoidances, we got together."

"You skimmed over a lot of the details there babe."


	6. Chapter 6

"You skimmed over a lot of the details there baby."

Lynne had seen her son arrive over Lauren's shoulder, around the time she spoke about slapping him but decided to stay quiet to let Lauren finish the story, partly out of curiosity of how they'd gotten together and partly to watch her son watch his girlfriend speak. Seeing his face response, multiple emotions, listening to her talk was interesting to see. And seeing the smile that broke out on Lauren's face as she heard his voice was worth it.

"You came back" Lauren said, so quietly both Joey and Lynne almost didn't hear it. Walking over to her, her standing for him to pull her into his embrace, mother and son exchanged a look over Lauren's shoulder. Lynne just hoped they knew what they were getting themselves in to, and hoped her son knew how much this beautiful girl had given up for her boy, temporarily or not. By the look he gave her, he knew. Breaking gaze with his mum, he spoke.

"I like this" he said, tugging on the bottom of his top, smirking at the girl in his arms making her smile and blush a little. "Yeah?" she mumbled. His answer was to flicker his gaze to his mum, her turning to look away for a second, knowing he'd be using the moment to kiss his girlfriend. "You look tired" Lynne heard Lauren say. "Got some bits done." He said softly in response, the most gentle she'd ever heard him speak to anyone even Alice.

When he'd awoken her that morning, he'd made her promise to look after the girl until he got back. Declaring that he'd promised her that he'd keep her safe and that things would be okay, so they needed to be. He sounded so determined, Lynne had known then this girl was special.

"Had to get stuff sorted. Said I'd look after you didn't I?" He said, confidence in his tone, her graceful nod his only response, as she stayedpressed to him. "Good talk with Mum babe?" he questioned, flicking his gaze between the two.


End file.
